USE  OF  TOBACCO  IN  MEXICO 
AND  SOUTH  AMERICA 

BY 

J.  ALDEN  MASON 
Formerly  Assistant  Curator  op  Mexican  ano  South  American  Archaeoi.oc.y 


Anthropology 
Leaflet  16 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 

CHICAGO 
1924 


The  Anthropological  Leaflets  of  Field  Museum  are  designed  to 
give  brief,  non-technical  accounts  of  some  of  the  more  interesting 
beliefs,  habits  and  customs  of  the  races  whose  life  is  illustrated 
in  the  Museum's  exhibits. 

LIST  OF  ANTHROPOLOGY  LEAFLETS  ISSUED  TO  DATE 

1.  The  Chinese  Gateway $  .10 

2.  The  Philippine  Forge  Group 10 

3.  The  Japanese  Collections .25 

4.  New  Guinea  Masks 25 

5.  The  Thunder  Ceremony  of  the  Pawnee 25 

H.  The  Sacrifice  to  the  Morning  Star  by  the 

Skidi  Pawnee 10 

7.  Purification  of  the  Sacred  Bundles,  a  Ceremony 

of  the  Pawnee 10 

8.  Annual  Ceremony  of  the  Pawnee  Medicine  Men      .        .10 

9.  The  Use  of  Sago  in  New  Guinea 10 

10.  Use  of  Human  Skulls  and  Bones  in  Tibet        ...         .10 

11.  The  Japanese  New  Year's  Festival,  Games 

and  Pastimes 25 

12.  Japanese  Costume 25 

13.  Gods  and  Heroes  of  Japan 25 

14.  Japanese  Temples  and  Houses 25 

15.  Use  of  Tobacco  among  North  American  Indians     .        .25 

16.  Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America    .     .         .25 

17.  Use  of  Tobacco  in  New  Guinea      . 10 

18.  Tobacco  and  Its  Use  in  Asia 25 

19.  Introduction  of  Tobacco  into  Europe 25 

20.  The  Japanese  Sword  and  Its  Decoration 25 

D.  C.  DAVIES 

DIRECTOR 
FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 
CHICAGO.  U.  S.  A. 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

DEPARTMENT  OF  ANTHROPOLOGY 
Chicago.  1924 


Lbaflbt  NomatM 

Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and 
South  America 

At  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  America,  tobacco 
was  cultivated  by  the  American  natives  in  practically 
every  region  to  which  it  was  naturally  suited,  and, 
due  to  its  ease  of  preservation  and  trade,  its  use  ex- 
tended even  beyond  the  boundaries  of  agriculture  and 
pottery  in  America.  The  principal  species,  however, 
Nicotiana  tahaciim,  was  unknown  in  pre-Columbian 
times  north  of  Mexico,  the  Indians  of  the  United  States 
employing  other  varieties,  and  it  is  with  this  species 
exclusively,  therefore,  that  the  present  essay  is  con- 
cerned. 

While  the  use  of  tobacco  was,  in  aboriginal  times, 
^ide-spread  over  practically  all  of  America,  the  meth- 
ods of  its  use  varied  greatly  in  different  sections. 
Certain  of  these  methods  seem  to  be  more  primitive 
than  others,  but  whether  a  definite  evolutionary  scheme 
may  be  postulated  is,  to  say  the  least,  doubtful.  It  is 
quite  certain,  for  instance,  that  the  cultivation  of  to- 
bacco, as  practised  by  almost  all  tribes,  is  a  later  devel- 
opment from  the  gathering  of  wild  tobacco  which  must 
have  been  the  primitive  custom.  It  is  a  tempting  evo- 
lutionary scheme  to  suggest  that  the  earliest  method 
of  tobacco  use  was  in  the  form  of  a  cigar, — crushed 
tobacco  leaves  rolled  in  a  large  tobacco  leaf.  The 
next  step  was  to  the  cigarette,  in  which  the  tobacco 
was  rolled  in  a  better  wrapper,  of  corn-husk  or  bark 
cloth.    This  led  naturally  to  the  tubular  pipe,  at  first 


2  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

made  of  a  hollow  reed  and  then  of  pottery  or  stone. 
From  this,  finally,  by  a  turn  in  the  bowl  which  per- 
mitted the  pipe  to  be  held  more  horizontally,  evolved 
the  modern  "elbow"  pipe.  Nevertheless,  while  this  is 
a  rational  scheme,  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  no 
evidence  that  it  is  an  historical  one,  except  possibly 
in  some  instances  of  the  last  two  steps  where  tubular 
pipes  are  found  among  some  groups  in  ceremonial  re- 
ligious use,  while  the  ordinary  pipes  are  of  the  "elbow" 
type,  thus  illustrating  the  usual  conservative  tenden- 
cies of  religious  observance. 

Similarly,  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  earliest 
use  of  tobacco  was  in  religious  ceremonies,  and  that  its 
use  as  a  pastime  was  a  more  recent  development. 
Plants  with  intoxicating  and  narcotic  properties  have 
always  been  looked  upon  by  primitive  peoples  as  en- 
dowed with  supernatural  powers  on  account  of  their 
ability  to  put  the  taker  in  an  abnormal  condition,  dur- 
ing which  he  may  behold  visions  and  receive  super- 
natural impressions,  and  consequently  tobacco,  in  al- 
most every  Indian  group,  played  a  most  important 
part  in  religious  and  esoteric  ceremonies.  But, 
whether  used  in  religious  observances  or  as  a  personal 
pastime,  tobacco  was  apparently  employed  in  pre- 
Columbian  America  as  to-day,  mainly  by  men. 

Tobacco  was  also  used  for  chewing,  snuffing  and 
several  forms  of  licking  or  drinking  by  the  aborigines 
of  certain  portions  of  America;  these  practises,  how- 
ever, as  will  be  seen,  were  due  to  the  influence  of  other 
plant  customs  and  were  not  typical  of  tobacco  usages. 

Not  only  have  these  various  methods  and  customs 
of  taking  tobacco  persisted  until  to-day  among  the  na- 
tive tribes,  but  they  have  also  been  largely  adopted  by 
the  modern  civilized  populations  of  these  same  regions 
and,  interesting  to  state,  have  influenced  in  diverse 
ways  the  tobacco  habits  of  the  various  parts  of  Eu- 
rope. 

[30] 


t 


Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America  3 

In  the  West  Indies  tobacco  was  employed  in  the 
form  of  a  cigar — dried  leaves  rolled  in  a  larger  leaf. 
This  custom  also  obtained  through  most  of  north- 
central  South  America.  The  native  peoples  of  the 
Antilles  are  now  extinct,  although  the  cigar  still  re- 
mains the  favorite  smoke  in  that  region,  but  in  South 
America  many  tribes  exist  in  their  original  state  of 
culture  who  take  their  tobacco  in  the  form  of  cigars. 

The  first  European  contact  with  tobacco  was,  ap- 
parently, when  Columbus  with  his  little  caravels,  after 
making  his  first  landfall  on  the  small  island  of  San 
Salvador  or  Watling's  Island,  steered  again  toward 
the  southwest,  meeting  at  sea  an  Indian  canoe  loaded, 
among  other  things,  with  dried  leaves.  The  use  of 
tobacco  was,  however,  first  observed  by  two  messen- 
gers whom  Columbus  sent  ashore  in  Cuba,  or,  accord- 
ing to  other  authorities,  in  Hispaniola  (Santo  Do- 
mingo). One  of  these  men  was  a  learned  Jew  who 
could  speak  Chaldean,  Hebrew  and  Arabic  and  who, 
Columbus  felt  sure,  would  therefore  be  able  to  speak 
with  any  deputy  official  of  the  Grand  Khan  of  Cathay 
(China)  whom  he  might  encounter.  They  met  many 
men  carrying  firebrands  and  packages  of  dried  herbs 
rolled  up  in  a  dried  leaf.  Lighting  one  end  of  this, 
they  sucked  the  smoke  out  of  the  other  end,  giving  the 
information  that  it  comforted  the  limbs,  intoxicated 
them,  made  them  sleepy,  and  lessened  their  weariness, 
and  that  the  objects  were  caled  tabacos. 

Thus  was  the  cigar  first  discovered  in  what  still 
remains  its  principal  stronghold,  Cuba.  It  is  of  inter- 
est to  note  that  the  aboriginal  name,  tabaco,  apparently 
meant  not  tobacco  as  such,  but  cigar,  and  that  at 
present,  in  this  Antillean  region,  a  cigar  is  still  called 
"un  tabaco."  Our  word  is,  of  course,  derived  from  the 
aboriginal  form  tabaco,  which  is  the  modern  Spanish 
form.    This  word  is  in  nearly  uniform  use  to-day,  but 

[31] 


4  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

in  earlier  years  the  Brazilian  term  petun  and  the 
Aztec  name  picietl  were  also  in  use. 

The  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  the  Antilles,  how- 
ever, were  practically  exterminated  within  a  half  cen- 
tury after  the  discovery,  so  that  the  only  information 
with  regard  to  the  native  processes  of  cultivating,  cur- 
ing, and  using  tobacco  must  be  derived  from  historical 
records  of  the  time  of  the  conquest.  No  pipes  were 
used  in  the  West  Indies,  so  that  none  of  the  para- 
phernalia of  smoking  in  this  region  has  survived. 

Here,  as  almost  universally  in  America,  tobacco 
was  employed  by  native  "medicine-men,"  in  their 
quasi-magical  ceremonies  for  the  cure  of  the  sick. 
Benzoni,  one  of  the  earliest  chroniclers,  writes,  "In  La 
Espana  and  other  islands  when  their  doctors  wanted 
to  cure  a  sick  man,  they  went  to  the  place  where  they 
were  to  administer  the  smoke,  and  when  the  patient 
was  thoroughly  intoxicated  by  it  the  cure  was  mostly 
effected." 

in  the  north-central  South  American  region,  the 
use  of  the  cigar,  and  in  some  places  the  cigarette, 
varies  greatly  in  detail  from  tribe  to  tribe.  Appar- 
ently, most  of  these  tribes  smoke  tobacco  as  a  solace 
and  pastime,  as  is  the  modern  custom,  tobacco  playing 
but  a  small  part  in  the  religious  ceremonials  and  eso- 
teric observances.  Patches  of  tobacco  are  planted  and 
grown,  generally  by  the  women,  though  among  some 
tribes  even  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  is  taboo  to 
women.  The  leaves  are  then  dried  and  preserved,  to 
be  used  as  required  in  the  manufacture  of  cigars  or 
cigarettes,  the  latter  being  frequently  made  with  a 
wrapper  of  vegetable  fiber  or  a  sort  of  cloth  beaten 
out  from  bark.  In  Guiana  the  tobacco  is  sometimes 
dipped  in  honey. 

In  certain  regions,  peculiar  customs  of  smoking 
prevail.  Thus  Lionel  Wafer  reports  the  practise  of  a 
certain  Panama  tribe  in  1680  as  follows:  "The  dried 

[32] 


Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America  6 

tobacco  leaves  are  stripped  from  the  stalk,  and  laying 
two  or  three  leaves  one  upon  another  they  roll  all  up 
sideways  into  a  long  roll,  yet  leaving  a  little  hollow; 
round  this  they  roll  other  leaves  one  after  another  in 
the  same  manner,  but  close  and  hard,  till  .the  roll  is 
as  big  as  one's  wrist  and  two  or  three  feet  in  length. 
Their  way  of  smoking  when  they  are  in  company  to- 
gether is  thus:  A  boy  lights  one  end  of  a  roll  and 
bums  it  to  a  coal,  wetting  the  part  next  to  it  to  keep 
it  from  wasting  too  fast;  the  end  so  lighted,  he  puts 
into  his  mouth,  and  blows  the  smoke  through  the  whole 
length  of  the  roll  into  the  face  of  everyone  of  the  com- 
pany or  council,  though  there  be  two  or  three  hundred 
of  them.  Then  they,  sitting  in  their  usual  posture 
upon  forms,  make  with  their  hands  held  together  a 
kind  of  funnel  around  their  mouths  and  noses;  into 
this  they  receive  the  smoke  as  it  is  blown  upon  them, 
snuffing  it  up  greedily  and  strongly,  as  long  as  ever 
they  are  able  to  hold  their  breath,  and  seeming  to 
bless  themselves  as  it  were  with  the  refreshment  it 
gives  them." 

Mexico  and  Central  America  and  some  parts  of 
northern  South  America  were  the  regions  in  which  the 
cigarette  was  the  favored  form  of  smoking  tobacco, 
crushed  tobacco  leaves  being  rolled  in  a  wrapper  of 
corn-husk  or  bark  cloth.  The  corn-husk  cigarette  is 
at  present  the  popular  smoke  of  millions  of  Mexican 
Indians,  and  the  cigarette,  in  fact  as  well  as  in  popu- 
lar belief,  is  the  hall-mark  of  the  Mexican.  Few  cigars 
or  pipes  are  smoked  in  Mexico  to-day. 

Benzoni  thus  refers  to  the  preparation  and  use 
of  tobacco  among  these  natives :  "When  the  leaves  are 
in  season,  they  pick  them,  tie  them  up  in  bundles  and 
suspend  them  near  the  fireplace  until  they  are  very 
dry,  and  when  they  wish  to  use  them,  they  take  a  leaf 
of  their  grain,  and  putting  one  of  the  others  into  it, 
they  roll  them  round  tight  together;  then  they  set  fire 

[38] 


6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

to  one  end  and,  putting  the  other  into  the  mouth,  they 
draw  their  breath  up  through  it,  and  they  retain  it  as 
long  as  they  can,  and  so  much  do  they  fill  themselves 
with  this  cruel  smoke  that  they  lose  their  reason ;  and 
some  there  are  who  take  so  much  of  it  that  they  fall 
down  as  if  they  were  dead  and  remain  the  greater  part 
of  the  day  or  night  stupefied." 

The  regions  in  which  the  cigar  and  cigarette  were 
the  customary  forms  of  taking  tobacco  were  settled 
almost  exclusively  by  the  Spanish  who,  naturally, 
adopted  the  customs  of  the  natives  so  that  at  present 
these  are  the  favorite  methods  of  Spanish-speaking 
countries,  among  whom  the  pipe  finds  little  favor.  In 
the  same  way,  it  has  only  been  within  the  past  few 
decades,  and  after  considerable  conservative  opposi- 
tion, that  the  cigarette  has  secured  the  stamp  of  ap- 
proval in  northern  countries. 

A  transition  form  between  the  cigarette  and  the 
pipe  was  employed  in  aboriginal  America  by  the  In- 
dians of  Mexico  and  the  Rocky  Mountain  states  of  this 
country.  This  was  the  reed  cigarette  which  consisted 
of  crushed  tobacco  leaves  crammed  into  a  hollow  sec- 
tion of  cane  or  reed.  Many  examples  of  these  have 
been  found  in  excavations  in  the  arid  regions  of  Ari- 
zona and  New  Mexico,  but  in  most  localities  the  reeds 
have  perished  utterly,  and  the  custom  has  gone  out  of 
use. 

A  further  development  is  found  in  the  tubular 
pipes  which  were  in  common  use  in  the  same  general 
region.  These  were  of  pottery  or  stone  and  were,  of 
course,  much  more  permanent  than  the  reed  sections. 
Among  most  tribes  these  were  coarse  and  crude,  but 
apparently  the  Aztec  nobles  of  Montezuma's  time  em- 
ployed delicate  ornate  tubes  of  expensive  materials 
which  may  be  compared  to  the  cigarette-holders  of  the 
present  time.  None  of  these  fine  ornate  pipes  escaped 
the  cupidity  of  the  invaders  and  survived,  it  being 

[34] 


Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America  7 

necessary  to  derive  our  knowledge  of  them  and  their 
use  from  the  accounts  left  by  the  historians  of  that 
period.  However,  some  of  the  ancient  hieroglyphs 
carved  on  monuments  or  drawn  on  the  maguey-paper 
books  known  as  codices  depict  men,  probably  priests, 
in  the  act  of  using  these  tubular  pipes,  though  the 
point  as  to  whether  the  smokers  were  inhaling  the 
fumes  or  blowing  them  out  in  a  religious  fumigation 
ceremony  has  occasioned  some  argument. 

According  to  the  accounts  of  eye-witnesses,  the 
Aztec  dignitaries  of  the  court  of  Montezuma  were  ac- 
customed to  smoke  after  dinner  before  the  siesta,  to 
which  they  were  as  devoted  as  the  Spaniard  himself. 
The  tobacco  was  generally  mixed  with  other  aromatic 
substances,  principally  liquidambar  (Liquidambar 
styraciflim) ,  and  smoked  in  tubes  or  pipes,  which  were 
richly  painted  and  gilded,  and  frequently  made  of 
tortoise-shell  or  silver.  They  compressed  the  nostrils 
with  the  fingers  and  inhaled  the  smoke,  frequently,  it 
is  reported,  swallowing  it.  However,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  custom  was  a  new  one  to  the 
Spaniards  and  one  for  which  a  descriptive  terminology 
had  not  yet  become  current.  Thus  the  oldest  accounts 
frequently  employ  such  terms  as  "swallow*'  and 
"drink"  in  attempting  to  describe  the  new  and  un- 
accustomed practise. 

According  to  Clavigero,  "After  dining,  the  lords 
used  to  compose  themselves  to  sleep  with  the  smoke 
of  tobacco.  This  plant  was  greatly  in  use  among  the 
Mexicans.  They  made  various  plasters  with  it,  and 
took  it  not  only  in  smoke  at  the  mouth,  but  also  in 
snuff  at  the  nose.  In  order  to  smoke  it,  they  put  the 
leaves,  with  the  gum  of  liquidambar  and  other  hot, 
warm,  and  odoriferous  herbs,  into  a  little  pipe  of  wood 
or  reed  or  some  other  more,  valuable  substance.  They 
received  the  smoke  by  sucking  the  pipe  and  shutting 

[86] 


8  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

the  nostrils  with  the  fingers,  so  that  it  might  pass  by 
the  breath  more  easily  toward  the  lungs." 

While,  apparently,  tobacco  was  smoked  largely  in 
ancient  Mexico  merely  for  the  pleasurable  sensation, 
it  evidently  also  was  believed  to  possess  much  the  same 
supernatural,  curative,  and  religious  functions  and 
properties  which  it  enjoyed  to  a  greater  extent  among 
the  Indians  of  the  United  States.  It  is  difficult  to  dis- 
tinguish accurately,  in  the  equivocal  language  of  the 
old  historians,  between  the  use  of  tobacco  for  recrea- 
tional smoking,  and  as  devotional  incense,  or  between 
tobacco  and  other  aromatic  products,  such  as  copal. 
The  words  "fumigating,"  "incensing"  and  "perfum- 
ing" are  frequently  used  in  old  records,  and  it  is 
sometimes  difficult  to  determine  whether  these  words 
were  used  in  their  modem  sense  or  in  an  endeavor 
to  find  descriptive  terms  for  what  was,  to  the 
writer,  a  new  and  peculiar  custom.  However,  among 
some  modern  Indian  tribes  of  Mexico,  tobacco  is 
smoked  on  many  occasions  of  religious  ceremony, 
smoke  being  blown  to  the  four  cardinal  points,  and 
on  the  affected  parts  of  persons  undergoing  curative 
treatment  by  the  shaman-priest.  The  white  clouds  of 
tobacco  smoke  especially  are  believed  to  have  an  inti- 
mate connection  with  the  rain  clouds,  and  play  an 
important  part  in  many  ceremonies  for  the  securing 
of  rain. 

While  Mexico  is  preeminently  a  region  of  the  ciga- 
rette and  the  tubular  pipe,  and  the  modem  pipe  with 
its  bowl  of  "elbow"  shape  is  not  mentioned  by  the  early 
chroniclers,  yet  specimens  of  this  latter  type  in  very 
interesting  and  artistic  shapes  are  far  from  uncommon 
in  archaeological  collections  from  the  Valley  of  Mexico. 
This  is  the  more  unusual  in  that  the  elbow  pipe  is  not 
known  in  northern  Mexico  or  the  adjacent  parts  of 
the  United  States.  However,  the  general  type  and 
nature  of  the  pottery  of  which  these  pipes  were  made, 

[36] 


Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America  9 

is  more  characteristic  of  the  Toltecs,  the  predecessors 
of  the  Aztecs  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  than  of  the 
latter,  which  fact  may  explain  their  apparent  absence 
at  the  time  of  the  Conquest.  A  number  of  these  pipes 
are  shown  in  the  accompanying  plates. 

The  Mexican  pottery  pipe  of  pre-Columbian  days 
differs  only  in  detail  from  the  modern  "clay"  pipe. 
The  stem  is  straight  with  a  smoke  passage  of  small 
caliber;  the  bowl  is  of  ample  or  large  capacity  and 
set  at  the  end  of  the  stem,  generally  at  an  obtuse  angle. 
This  inclination  of  the  bowl  is  one  of  the  characteristic 
features  of  Mexican  pipes,  as  well  as  the  flattened  base 
of  the  stem  which  enables  the  pipe  to  be  set  down  with 
the  bowl  upright.  Apparently  they  were  smoked  with- 
out wooden  stems,  though,  if  these  had  ever  been 
used,  they  would  have  disappeared  with  the  lapse  of 
time.  They  are  always  well,  artistically  and  delicately 
shaped  with  polished  surfaces  of  red,  chocolate  or  buff 
color,  decorated  with  incised  lines,  but  never  painted 
except  in  solid  colors.  The  bowls  are  frequently 
modeled  in  grotesque  forms. 

The  most  frequent  type  of  Mexican  pipe  is  one 
decorated  with  incised  lines  to  resemble  convention- 
alized animal  heads  with  large  eyes  and  long  beaks, 
probably  representing  birds.  There  are  two  forms  of 
these,  one  of  a  chocolate  color,  the  beak  very  flat  and 
the  concentric  eyes  with  a  central  dot,  probably  repre- 
senting some  species  of  duck.  The  second  form  is  al- 
ways of  red  or  buff  pottery  and  shows  a  high  hooked 
beak  ending  in  a  scroll.  The  eyes  are  also  of  con- 
centric circles.  Presumably  another  species  of  bird 
was  intended.  In  both  forms  the  art  is  very  conven- 
tionalized, the  head  forming  the  bowl,  and  the  beak, 
artificially  prolonged,  the  stem. 

In  other  Mexican  pipes  the  bowls  are  modeled  in 
the  form  of  grotesque  human  or  animal  heads,  flowers, 

[37] 


10  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

or,  in  one  specimen,  a  human  foot.  Other  pipes  are 
plain  without  any  attempt  at  artistic  effect. 

The  "elbow"  pipes  of  Mexico  are,  as  we  have  seen, 
not  typical  of  this  region  and  possibly  an  independent 
local  development.  This  type  is,  however,  the  char- 
acteristic form  of  smoking  implement  in  use  in  eastern 
and  south-central  South  America,  in  eastern  and  south- 
ern Brazil,  Paraguay,  Uruguay  and  northern  Argen- 
tina. Pottery  pipes  of  pre-Columbian  times  are  fre- 
quently found  in  these  regions,  though  probably  then, 
as  at  present,  the  usual  type  was  made  of  wood.  The 
best  of  these  pottery  pipes  come  from  the  Calchaqui 
region  of  northwest  Argentina.  They  somewhat  re- 
semble the  modern  "clay"  pipe,  but  are  roughly  made 
of  coarse  pottery  with  tubular  stems  of  a  large  caliber. 
The  bowls  are  generally  large  and  conical  with  two 
short  legs  on  which  the  pipe  can  be  rested  upright,  and 
frequently  rude  relief  ornament  has  been  applied  to 
the  bowls  so  that,  in  combination  with  the  short  sup- 
ports, a  grotesque  animal  form  is  suggested.  Better 
pipes  of  polished  black  pottery  with  incised  decora- 
tions are  occasionally  found. 

The  pipes  of  the  modern  peoples  are  well  illus- 
trated by  those  of  the  Indians  of  the  Gran  Chaco  of 
Paraguay.  The  stems  are  small,  short,  thin,  and  made 
of  hollow  cactus  wood.  While  a  few  groups  make 
bowls  of  rude,  massive  pottery,  the  usual  bowl  is  made 
of  hard  wood  in  a  high  cylindrical  or  slightly  conical 
shape.  Many  of  these  are  crude,  but  some  are  well 
shaped  and  finished;  some  are  large,  but  the  majority 
rather  small.  Most  are  plain,  but  a  few  are  rudely 
carved.  Generally  the  base  of  the  bowl  projects  be- 
low the  stem  orifice  to  some  distance,  and  the  pipe 
bears  a  superficial  resemblance  to  a  modern  corn-cob 
pipe,  which  may  have  been  its  prototype. 

The  Gran  Chaco  practically  marks  the  southern- 
most limit  of  tobacco  raising.    Among  the  Tehuelche 

[38] 


Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America  11 

of  southern  Argentina,  tobacco  is  such  a  luxury  that 
it  is  mixed  with  wood  shavings,  and  among  the  tribes 
of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  tobacco  is  utterly  unknown. 

While  smoking  was  in  pre-Columbian  times  as  at 
present  the  favorite  method  of  taking  tobacco,  yet 
chewing  and  snuffing  tobacco  and  licking  and  drinking 
decoctions  of  it  were  also  practised,  sometimes  in  place 
of  smoking  and  sometimes  in  conjunction  with  it. 
These  habits,  especially  snuffing  and  chewing,  were 
also  adopted  by  European  races,  and  in  former  times 
had  a  vogue  and  sanction  at  least  as  great  as  smoking, 
but  of  late  years  they  have  lost  caste  and  social  pres- 
tige and  seem  to  be  on  the  wane.  Both  of  these  cus- 
toms were,  and  are,  in  aboriginal  America,  primarily 
associated  with  vegetable  products  other  than  tobacco. 
The  tobacco-chewing  area  is  found  in  western  South 
America  near  the  Andes,  and  is  doubtless  related  to 
the  more  characteristic  coca-chewing  custom  of  the 
Andean  highlands.  The  snuffing  habit  is  wider-spread 
over  most  of  the  Amazonian  area  and  the  West  Indies. 
However,  the  snuff  taken  throughout  this  area  is  more 
frequently  made  from  other  plants  than  tobacco. 

In  the  western  part  of  the  Amazonian  forests, 
near  the  foot  of  the  Andes,  smoking  is  unknown,  but 
tobacco  is  licked  or,  at  times,  chewed  instead.  This  is, 
doubtless,  due  to  the  influence  of  the  coca-chewing 
habit  of  the  Andean  highlands,  many  of  these  tobacco- 
licking  tribes  also  chewing  the  coca  leaf.  Among  these 
tribes  a  decoction  is  generally  made  by  boiling  down 
the  tobacco  leaves  with  water  until  a  strong,  thick 
residue  of  a  tarry  consistency  and  color  is  produced. 
Small  quantities  of  this  concentrated  solution  are 
placed  on  the  tongue  from  time  to  time,  and  the  de- 
sired narcotic  effect  thus  secured. 

The  Arhuaco  Indians  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  de 
Santa  Marta  in  northern  Colombia,  for  instance,  carry 
with  them  constantly  a  tiny  hollow  gourd  containing 

[89] 


12  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

a  little  of  this  thick  dark  decoction.  When  two  men 
meet  on  the  trail  or  a  visit  is  made,  the  gourds  are  ex- 
changed, and  each  man  dips  his  finger  into  the  other's 
gourd  and  touches  the  tobacco  to  his  lips,  or,  more 
frequently,  merely  goes  through  the  motions  of  so 
doing. 

The  use  of  coca  (Erythroxylum  coca)  usurps  that 
of  tobacco  in  the  Andean  highlands  and  adjacent  re- 
gions. The  coca  leaves  contain  the  narcotic  principle 
from  which  the  cocaine  of  modern  pharmacy  is  ex- 
tracted, and  the  native  habit  of  chewing  the  toasted 
leaves  doubtless  induces  a  physiological  effect  similar 
to,  if  less  pronounced  than,  the  modern  use  of  cocaine 
— a  lessening  of  the  pangs  of  hunger  and  fatigue. 

The  coca  plant  is  grown  by  the  natives  in  small 
plantations  and  the  green  leaves  gathered,  toasted, 
and  carried  by  the  men  in  small  knitted  bags.  Coca 
is  always  taken  in  combination  with  lime,  and  in  this 
a  striking  analogy  is  shown  with  the  custom  of  chew- 
ing betel-nut  in  the  East  Indies.  The  lime  is  generally 
secured  by  burning  shells,  and  is  carried  in  a  pow- 
dered form  in  pear-shaped  gourds.  A  man  takes  a 
handful  of  toasted  coca  leaves  from  his  bag  and  puts 
it  into  his  mouth,  introduces  a  stick  into  the  lime  gourd 
until  it  is  covered  with  lime  powder,  and  licks  this  off, 
then  chewing  the  coca  leaves  and  lime  together.  The 
rattling  of  the  stick  in  the  lime  gourd  is  one  of  the 
constant  sounds  in  every  Indian  village.  These  little 
gourds  containing  lime  have  been  found  in  pre-Colum- 
bian graves  of  indefinite  age  in  Peru  and  other  Andean 
regions,  thus  demonstrating  the  aboriginality  of  the 
custom. 

The  use  of  snuff  is  common  among  many  tribes 
of  central  and  northern  South  America,  particularly 
in  the  lowland  regions  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela, 
and  was  probably  also  in  vogue  in  the  West  Indies  at 
the  time  of  Columbus.    The  tribes  of  this  region  make 

[40] 


LEAFLET  16. 


PLATE  V. 


1,    LIME  QOUROS,    ARHUACO   INDIANS.    COLUMBIA.         2,    TOBACCO    GOURDS,    ARHUACO 
INDIANS,  COLUMBIA.         3,   LIME  GOURDS,  CHUNCHO  INDIANS,   PERU. 


Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America  18 

a  snuff  in  which  pulverized  seeds  of  an  Acacia  or 
Mimosa,  manioc  flour,  and  pulverized  lime  from  a  mol- 
lusk  shell  form  the  basic  ingredients,  though  tobacco 
is  apparently  used  in  some  localities.  The  mixture  is 
blown  or  snuffed  up  the  nostrils  and  produces  a  mild 
intoxication,  presumably  giving  increased  strength 
and  courage.  This  snuff  is  most  commonly  known  as 
niopo  or  iopo. 

The  ingredients  are  generally  pulverized  with  a 
mortar  and  pestle.  In  Venezuela,  where  the  custom 
seems  to  have  reached  its  greatest  development,  the 
snuff  is  kept  in  a  hollow  jaguar  bone  which  is  per- 
manently closed  at  the  lower  end  with  pitch  or  gum 
into  which  some  object,  such  as  a  piece  of  glass,  crys- 
tal, or  shell  is  fixed  as  a  decoration,  and  the  other  end 
kept  closed  by  means  of  a  stopper,  generally  of  cloth. 
The  snuff-holder  is  generally  further  decorated  with 
toucan  feathers  and  incised  designs.  The  snuff  is 
taken  by  means  of  a  special  and  ornate  apparatus  of 
a  Y-shape  made  of  two  hollow  bird  bones  branching  at 
the  top,  but  meeting  at  the  bottom,  and  wound  with 
pitched  cord.  At  the  top,  two  hollow  balls  of  wood 
or  seeds  are  attached  to  the  ends  of  the  bones.  The 
two  balls  are  placed  against  the  nostrils,  and  the  lower 
end  of  the  bifurcated  tube  placed  in  the  snuff-holder. 
A  vigorous  sniff  then  brings  some  of  the  powder  up 
into  the  nose.  In  Colombia,  a  less  developed  snuff- 
taker  is  employed.  Two  hollow  bird-bones  are  fastened 
by  means  of  pitch  into  a  V-shape,  the  lower  apex  be- 
ing closed  by  means  of  pitch  into  which,  again,  a  deco- 
rative element  is  fixed,  the  two  bones,  however,  being 
connected.  A  pinch  of  snuff,  which  is  kept  in  a  gourd, 
is  introduced  into  the  bone,  one  end  of  which  is  placed 
in  a  nostril,  the  other  in  the  mouth.  A  puff  of  the 
breath  sends  the  powder  up  into  the  nose. 

A  similar  custom  apparently  was  in  use  in  the 
West  Indies  in  the  time  of  Columbus,  if  we  may  judge 

[411 


14  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

from  the  account  of  Oviedo,  one  of  the  earliest  his- 
torians. This  account,  however,  has  given  rise  to 
much  argument,  inasmuch  as  he  apparently  confused 
the  two  customs  of  smoking  and  snuff -taking.  In  his 
history,  an  illustration  is  given  of  a  forked  tube  very 
similar  to  those  used  in  Venezuela  for  the  taking  of 
snuff,  but  the  statement  is  made  that  it  was  this  in- 
strument which  was  called  tabaco,  not  the  herb. 

Tobacco  in  the  form  of  snuff  was  also  used  both 
by  the  Incas  of  Peru  and  the  Aztecs  of  Mexico  at  the 
time  of  the  Conquest. 

The  first  European  contact  with  tobacco  was,  as 
we  have  seen,  in  the  West  Indies,  where  the  cigar  was 
the  favorite  method  of  use.  For  a  decade  or  two  these 
islands  formed  the  principal  field  for  European,  that 
is  to  say,  Spanish,  discovery  and  exploitation,  and  it 
is  from  them  that  most  of  the  names  and  many  of  the 
customs  relative  to  tobacco  at  present  have  been  bor- 
rowed. Apparently,  the  early  Spanish  conquerors, 
especially  those  of  the  lower  grades  and  the  negro 
slaves,  soon  adopted  the  custom,  and  among  many  it 
became  a  habit.  At  first  the  practise  was  frowned 
upon  by  the  leaders  and  clergy  as  a  vice.  Bishop  Las 
Casas,  the  beloved  "Protector  of  the  Indians,"  wrote 
at  that  time,  "I  knew  Spaniards  on  this  island  of 
Espaiiola  who  were  accustomed  to  take  it,  and  being 
reprimanded  for  it,  by  telling  them  it  was  a  vice,  they 
replied  they  were  unable  to  cease  using  it.  I  do  not 
know  what  pleasure  or  benefit  they  found  in  it."  The 
same  bewilderment  seems  to  puzzle  the  minds  of  non- 
smoking reformers  to-day.  Benzoni,  who  visited 
America  about  1541,  said,  "See  what  a  pestiferous  and 
wicked  poison  from  the  devil  this  must  be!  It  has 
happened  several  times  to  me  that  going  through  the 
provinces  of  Guatemala  and  Nicaragua  I  have  entered 
the  house  of  an  Indian  who  had  taken  this  herb,  which 

[42] 


LEAFLET  16. 


PUkTE  VI. 


1.    SNUFF    HOLDERS,    VENEZUELA.  2.    TUBES    FOR    INHALING    SNUFF.    VENEZUELA. 

3.   MORTAR  AND  PESTLE  FOR  QRINDINQ  SNUFF.  QUAHIBO  INDIANS,  COLUMBIA. 

4,   SNUFF-TAKER.  TUYUKA  INDIANS,  COLUMBIA. 


Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America  16 

in  the  Mexican  language  is  called  tobacco,  and,  immedi- 
ately perceiving  this  sharp,  fetid  smell,  I  was  obliged 
to  go  away  in  haste  and  seek  some  other  place." 

Tobacco,  on  the  other  hand,  by  its  devotees  and 
proponents,  was  regarded  as  a  medicinal  plant  of  won- 
derful power,  a  panacea  and  cure-all,  endowed  with 
magical  properties.  Benzoni  again  says,  "These  leaves 
were  strung  together,  hung  in  the  shade  and  dried, 
and  used  whole  or  powdered,  and  were  considered  good 
for  headaches,  lockjaw,  toothache,  coughs,  asthma, 
stomach-ache,  obstructions,  kidney  troubles,  diseases 
of  the  heart,  rheumatism,  the  poisoning  from  arrows, 
carbuncles,  polypus,  consumption."  Monardes,  who 
wrote  a  treatise  on  medicinal  plants  in  1574,  enumer- 
ates the  following  methods  of  using  tobacco  as  a  medi- 
cine :  heating  the  leaves  and  applying  them  to  the  parts 
affected;  rubbing  the  teeth  with  a  rag  dipped  in  the 
juice;  wrapping  a  leaf  into  a  pill  and  inserting  it  in 
the  tooth ;  boiling  the  leaves ;  making  decoctions  of  its 
leaves ;  making  a  syrup  of  it ;  smoking  it  by  the  mouth ; 
reducing  the  leaves  to  ashes ;  pounding  the  green  leaves 
and  mixing  them  with  oil  or  steeping  them  in  vinegar ; 
using  the  powder  as  a  poultice  if  leaves  are  not  to  be 
had ;  making  fomentations ;  smoking  through  the  nose ; 
rubbing  the  leaves  on  the  afflicted  parts ;  inserting  the 
juice  into  the  wound;  applying  bruised  leaves  to  the 
wound. 

J.  Alden  Mason. 


[4S] 


N^;?/  '-. 


pTTTn] 


MEXICAN  SMOKING. 
FROM  THE  MANUSCRIPT  TROANO. 


PRINTED  BY  FIELD  MUSEUM  PRESS 


